caney creek 3" carrot problems

[crappieslab]

I have caney creeks 3" carrot stick molds and I am having problems with air pockets in the heads does anyone have any ideas what is wrong?

[snake River]

are your molds cold when you're shooting make sure that you do not shoot too fast also you may want to put a clamp on the molds I know which are thinking but try to see what happens. You want to make sure that the mold is completely shot we were having problems with their molds and that's what we had to do it wasn't the problem that you had it was a problem of the mold not being shut properly.

[TAE73]

Once you shoot your bait keep pressure on the injector for a few more seconds and when you pull it off top off the sprue with more plastic.

[DaBehr]

I have this mold and don't have any such issues. I really looks like you are sucking in air and/or have air in your injector. But I'm pretty sure it's a combination of not clamped correctly (2 clamps) and not completely filling the mold and you are sucking air into the baits as the plastic shrinks.

1. I inject at 350
2. Make sure your injector is full...and purge a tiny bit before you inject (push out any air)
3. DON"T suck plastic in and out in your cup to warm up the injector. Makes for really big air bubbles!
4. Inject slowly...hand pressure only.
5. Hold pressure at the end for a count of 5
6. I always "top off" my sprues to make sure the baits don't suck in air. This is really critical if you are making senko type baits...they really can suck in the extra plastic as the cool!!!
7. I also always clamp with two clamps. Remember the hinge at the back is just to keep the two mold halves together and do NOT act as a clamp.

If you are still having issues....I would suggest you inject the baits with clear plastic and post the pics on the Caney Creek site. Jason is always quick with help...and you'll get plenty of input from others!!!

[RonDon]

As others said be sure to top the sprue off after you inject. Keeping the sprue full keeps air from being sucked in as the plastic cools. From the pic you can see air starting at the sprue and traveling through the runner into the nose of the baits.

Or did you run out of plastic when you shot that mold?

[crappiefarmer]

Looks like all the solutions were covered here. Looks to me like You have not been topping off your sprues too. It may take 20 more seconds before the plastic starts shrinking up but You want to make sure when it starts that You top it off some to keep it from pulling the air channel down to Your baits.CF

[CTom]

Insufficient clamping usually results in flashing and I don't see any of that here. Focus on the air issue. The plastic looks very clear so air is most likely the headache. Try slipping the nozzle deeper into the plastic cup, filling the injector slower, then injecting slower being sure to hold some light pressure for a count of 5 to 8 at the end and fill or top off the sprue.

[crappieslab]

Well here is a update, Jason called me back and explained what the issue was and told me to shoot the plastic at 350 degrees and fill the sprue after the mold was full. Well tried that and it helped but was still getting some with air pockets so I took them to the garage and drilled the sprue out bigger and shot them again and bingo, fixed it and now can shoot them without any air pockets.

[snake River]

Well here is a update, Jason called me back and explained what the issue was and told me to shoot the plastic at 350 degrees and fill the sprue after the mold was full. Well tried that and it helped but was still getting some with air pockets so I took them to the garage and drilled the sprue out bigger and shot them again and bingo, fixed it and now can shoot them without any air pockets.

we will definitely have to try that thanks for the information this is terrific. Could you please post a picture of what you did to the mold this would give the other guys in ideal on how to do it this may be helpful on other molds it may help Air pocket problems.

[crappieslab]

This is what I did, I selected a drill bit (sharp or new) that was bigger than the sprue (channel) and set the depth on the drill press (with mold open and behind drill bit to see how far down the bit will go). Clamped the mold together with two clamps and then drilled down to the stop I set. (You will have to drill halve the way then empty chips out of the mold then drill the other half. Here is the result.